Railroad lantern



P. GENESY.

RAILROAD LANTERN.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 30, |921.

15,419,671 mma Mar. 28, m2.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

P. GENESY.

RAILROAD LANTERN.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 30. 1921.

Patented Mar. 28, 11922;.

4 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

narran? stares entrar etree; f

PAUL GENESY, 0F GGDEN, UTAH, SSIGNOR, BY DIRECT MESNE ASSIGNIENTS, YT0 GENESY ELECTRIC LANTEBN COMPANY, A. CORPORATION QF WYOMING'.

' naman ramenant v y Lerenti;

-in the county of Weberand State of Utah,

have invented vcertain new and useful I mprovements in Railroad Lanterns, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to lanterns, and particularly to lanterns of the type used by conductors, brakemen and trainmen generally on railways, and the general object of the invention is to provide a lantern which will stand a lot of hard usage, which is designed to be illuminated by an electric light energized the ordinary dry battery, and which is extremely simple.

A further object is to provide' a lantern of this character so constructed that the light is thrown downward when the body of the lantern is not lifted to a horizontal position. l

And a further object is to provide'a construction of this character wherein a very simple form of switch is provided to conneet or disconnect the battery with the lamp.

Another object is to provide for the use of a light condensing lens opera-tin in conjunction with the refiector and yt e lamp, which lens is adjustable to ialter its focus.

Other objects have to vdo with the details of construction and arrangement of parts asy will appear in the course of the following description. j

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein igure 1 is a side elevation partly in section of one form of my improved lantern;

Figure 2 is a section on the line' 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the annular member 30 of insulating material; Y

Figure 4 is a section on the lline 4 4 of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary elevation of the lower portion of another embodiment of my invention;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary section ofthe lower portion of a lantern embodying another form of my invention;

Specication of Letters Patent.

Application tiled March 30,

Patented Mar, 28, 4192i. semina. esauot.'

Figure 7 is a sectional view of the lower.

-end of the body 10a looking downward.

Referring to these drawings and particu'- larly to Figures 1 to It, 10 designates the body of the lantern, which is made in the form of a cylindrical battery receiving receptacle closed by a hinged lid 11 at its upper end. Riveted or otherwise attached to the body 10 at opposite points are the handle sockets 12, and engaged in said handle sockets is a handle 13 which1 is preferably oi wood and arches over the top of the lamp.

The lower end of the body 10 is permanently closed bya head 14, the central portion of this head being concave, as at 15, to provide a reflector, and at 'the central portion of this reflector there is provided a lamp socket 16 designed to receive within it the' base 17 of the lamp 18. Attached to the lower end of the body in any suitable man-l ner are a plurality of outwardly and down- ,the bottom of the lamp bod'y10 are rods 23,

illustrated as two in number, though-more may be used, which pass through the ring 22 and with which said ring 22 has sliding engagement. The ring 22 is rictionally held in engagement with these rods by means of a semi-circular s ring 24 disposed within a groove 25 forme 'in the ring, this spring be ing attached at its middle to thering, as by soldering. rli`he l'pwer ends of the rods 23 are angularly bent or'otherwise formed to provide heads 26 to lifinit the outward movement of the lens.

Mounted within the body is a metallic disk 27 formed with downwardly projecting' legs 28, these legs being angularly bent to provide screw-threaded feet 29 which bear against the inner face of the bottom 1li and are attached thereto by screws. Thisnmem- -ber 27 is formed to provide the screw-threadposed position.

30 which is pivoted at 31 to the disk 27. Disposed upon the top of this disk 30 is a fiber insulating disk 32, and resting upon this fiber insulating disk is a central metallic disk 33. The disk 30 is provided with the outwardly projecting switch yhandle 34 extending beneath a strap 35 attached to the supporting disk 27 and extending out through a slot 36 formed in the wall of the body 10. A metallic/stud 37 extends throu h the disks 30, 32 and 33 and forms a metal ic connection between the disk 30 and the disk 33.

When thisstud 37 is in its central position, it contacts with the centrally disposed electrode of the lamp 18. When, however, the disk 30 is shifted by its handle, this stud 3T is carried out of. its engagement with the electrode and as a conse%ence circuit through the lamp is broken. isposed within the body 10 is a battery of suitable construction, designated generally 38, and having on its under face the contacts 39 and 40. The contact 39 fits against the fixed disk 27, while the contact 40 is adapted to engage with the stud 37 when the latter is in its centrally dis- When the stud 37 is in contact with the resilient contact spring 40, cur rent will pass from the battery to stud 37, thence to the filament of the lamp, thence to the outer electrode of the lamp, thence to the lamp socket and by the supporting disk 27 to the contact 39, thus completing the circuit through the lamp. When the handle 34 is shifted, however, the circuit through the lamp is broken in an obvious manner. y

The reflector' 15 throws the light of the lamp downward and the lens 21 focuses this light at distances which depend upon the adjustment of the lens. When the lens is in one position, it will focus the light of the lamp atl one distance from the lamp itself, and when it is shifted it will change the focus of the lamp and the light will be thrown in the form of a spot onto the body which it is desired to illuminate. The guard formed by the legs 19 and the ring 20, while it supports the lamp in position so that the light 1s all thrown downward, does not throw any shadow on the face of the user. The switch has no wire connections, it will be seen, and therefore nothing which can get out of order. The whole weight of the lamp, including the dry battery, is approximately two pounds. It will be seen that it is particularly convenient for pouring the light downward onto an object which it is desired to fully illuminate and that the light may be focused on this object so as to secure full illumination thereof, which is not possible where the light of the lamp is diffused and where no focusing lens is used.

n Figure 5 I show a modified form of the lower portion of the lamp wherein the lens,

which is designated in Figurev 5 as 21a, is held in fixed relation to the lamp 18, the lens being supported in a supporting frame designated 41. The wire guard is constructed in the usual manner, as is thepswitch and the rest of the mechanism.

In Figure 6 I show another form of my device, wherein two lamps are used which may be of different colors or of the same color as desired, and wherein a switch is movable to illumlnate either lamp. In this case, the

lower end of the casing f10u is formed withl disk of insulating material, designated 42,

to which a handle 43 is attached. Extend- 'ing' out through the slot 36a in the side wall of the body and attached tothe upper face of this disk is a central metallic disk 44 and an annular concentric disk 45. A screw 46 forms a pivot for the combined disks 42, 44 and 45, this screw having screw-threaded engagement with the bottom of the body 10. A pair of'studs 47 and 48 extend down from the annular member 45 to the under face of the fiber disk 48 and are adapted to contact with the respective lamp plugs 1711 as the switch is turned by its handle 43 into one position or the other. A lens 21b is mounted in connection with the white light 18", this lens operating in the same manner as the lens heretofore described.

It is obvious that the switch might be arranged to cause the energizing of both lamps at a time or, as illustrated, to only energize one lamp at a time. In the latter case, the mlddle position of the handle 43 indicates that the switch is off and neither lamp is energized, while when the handle is shifted in one direction one of the lamps is energized, and when shifted in the other direction from its middle position the other lamp is energized. It will be obvious that the principle of construction of the switch is the same as that previously described.

It will be seen that all forms of this invent1on are particularl adapted for railway work and particular y to hand lanterns carried by conductors, trainmen or the like.

A lantern constructed in accordance with my invention will permit trainmen to make thorough inspection of trains and can also be used with advantage by car checkers and conductors checking trains. The form of lantern illustrated in Figure 1 is particularly advantageous inasmuch as the lens can be adjusted to throw a light several -car lengths 4'Mainport andenable vthe trainman to see when theyare shoving the cars to a coupling., 'llhis lens will also throw `a light vfar enough to enable trainmen workin inv av yard to locatev any obstruction thatmlght cause them injury,or locate cars that might be projecting out over the fouling point or end of tracks. A further advantage of lanterns constructed in accordance with my invention is that the light -is so arranged within the reflector bowl that it does not blind the user or other men working nearby, but is directed tothe point desired by the lens Furthermore, there 'are no shadows from the guard 19 and ring 20 upon the object toward which the light is directed. Thus,

` for instance, if the user were checking up a string of cars there would be no dark shadowsrin the range ot' light, thus giving theY user a clear light to read the numbers and initials of the cars or otherwise.' It will be noted also lthat thelens does not in any way interfere with the giving of signals, while at the saine time it permits the lens to `act as a spotlight so that the user has a combined signal lantern and spotlight.

In the construction illustrated in Figure 6, the lantern secures 'the use of two lights so that in case one should go out the other is capable of use (assumin of course, that both lamps are white). f course, where one lamp is white and the other red, it is to provide a lantern which can be used for Ordinar purposes and also as a signal lantern. t this time all railway lagmen or others acting as iagmen carry two lanterns, one red and one clear. By my construction, I provide an electric lantern which, as before stated, can be used either for flagging purposes or for ordinary purposes. It may also be used for railway crossing' agmen, who ordinarily carry two oil-lanterns, one green and the other red, and the lantern in Figure 6 may lbe usedV for displaying either 4a red li ht or a green light. Furthermore, a red e ectric light is much more plainly seen by an engineer than a red light in an oil lantern.

-The object of having the two reflector bowls shown in Figure 6 is when the user is using the clear lamp', that is the lamp 18", it will not show red at the side upon which the red light is. ln other words, the reflector bowl 15 acts as a shield with relation to the red light 18". If both these lamps 18b were mounted in the same reflector, there would be a red reflection on the side toward the redlamp.

It will be understood, of course, that the tension on the spring 24 holds the lens 21 inl Figure 1- in its adjusted position on the rods 23. It will be seen that the base of' i the lantern -is relatively wide so that the course, that this lantern is adapted for Yhousehold use, for camping trips, and in a large number of other circumstances.

l claim l. A lantern of the character described comprising a battery containing case, a skeleton guard extending from one end of the case and adapted to s up ort the same, an electric lamp disposed at t is end of the case, a handle attached to the case, and a lens carried by the case and disposed in front of and vspaced from the electric lamp to thereby permit light rays to be directed laterally without interference from said lens.

2. In a railway lantern, a body having a handle,l arru openwork guard projecting downward from the lower end of the body and forming a base on which the body may be supported, an electricA lamp carried by the lower end of the body, means whereby the lamp may be electrically connected with or disconnected from a battery carried i and forming a base lon which thev body may be supported, an electric lamp carried by thelower end of the body, means whereby the lamp may be electrically connected with or disconnected from a battery carried within the body, a lens disposed below the lamp, i

and rods supporting said leus in spaced relation to the lamp with which rods the lens .i

has sliding f-rictional engagement, whereby the lens may beshifted toward or from the llamp and held in its adjusted position.

4. A railway lant'rn of the character da scribed comprising-a body adapted to contain a battery and having a handle, the lower end of the body being provided with 'a skeletonic uard constituting a base on which the. body the body carrying a metallic lamp socket, an electric lamp disposed in said socket and having a base, a battery disposed within the body and having a. laterally disposed contact, means for making or breaking the circuit through the battery and lamp comprising a pivotally mounted disk disposed in' the lower end of the body and having an may rest, the lower end of` at right angles to the'vertical axis of the body, the body being slotted to permit the projection of the handle, said disk having a metallic connection with the lateral contact on the battery and in one position establishing a metallic connection between the central contact on the battery and the base of lishing said connection.

5. A railway lantern of the character described comprisingv a body constituting a battery containing case, a skeleton guard extending from one end of the case and adapted to support the same, a plurality of differently colored electric lamps disposed in this end of the case, a switch whereby any one of said lamps may be electrically coni0 nected' to the battery or disconnected thererom, and inde endent concave reflectors disposed behindp and concentric to each lamp.

In testimony whereof I hereunto alix my 15 signature.

PAUL GENESY. 

